Hoisin Duck

We enjoyed lots of duck dishes in Hong Kong and the inspiration for this little canapé came from our trip. I hope you like it.

Ingredients

60g cooked duck

0.5 tsp Chinese five spice (if using uncooked duck)

30ml hoisin sauce

40g cucumber, chopped

1 small salad onion, chopped

Chives

Romaine lettuce leaves

2 filo pastry sheets (I get about 12 cases out of each sheet) - or use Rahms ready made cases

Melted butter or light flavourless oil, such as grapeseed

Mini muffin tin

Plain sided cutter

Method

For the filo cases:

Brush the inside of the mini muffin tin with a little oil or melted butter

Cut the filo sheet into strips 4.5 cms wide and then cut the strips to make squares, each measuring around 4.5 x 4.5 cms. Oil the squares.

Press a square gently into a mini tartlet tin and top with another filo square, placed at a different angle so that each tartlet has two layers of filo. Brush with some more oil or melted butter. Continue until the tin is filled. Take care to keep filo covered when not working with it. It dries out very quickly.

Cook in the oven for 5-6 minutes at 180°c. Bake until golden brown, but watch the filo cases don’t burn, they overcook very easily.

Cool on a rack and store in an airtight tin. They will keep for several days, so can be made well ahead.

For the duck:

Cut diagonal lines across the duck skin (taking care not to cut into the flesh) and do the same the opposite way to form criss crosses. Cook the duck breast on a low heat to render off some of the fat - about 10 minutes (the fat can be kept for roast potatoes).

Rub the duck breast with 0.5 tsp five spice and cook in a hot oven (220°c) for 10 minutes.

Allow the duck to cool and then chop or shred the duck meat.

(ready cooked duck is an easier option)

To prepare the canapés, cut circles of lettuce with a plain sided cutter to fit inside the filo cases.

Mix the duck meat with the hoisin sauce, cubed cucumber and salad onion and put a small spoonful on each lettuce circle. Sprinkle with more salad onion or chives and store covered, in the fridge, until required.

30 minutes or so before serving, simply place a lettuce filled circle into each filo case.